Bret Devereaux

I was talking with William Murray at SCS/AIA this year, and they're breaking out some metal-detector fancy tech to try to find more stuff like that in up-coming seasons. They found a (badly preserved) sword already - along with piles of helmets.

I am both excited and a bit terrified by what they find - they could confirm or completely blow up most of my research with one lucky bronze bit of armor!

What are you working on that's so closely tied to armor?

Diss-now-book-project is a comparative assessment of the cost of equipment using raw material requirements (esp. worked metal) between the great powers and major non-state actors of the Med., 3rd-2nd cent.

Aim was to draw into question the 'horde upon uncomplaining horde of Italian manpower' thesis (to use Sekunda's phrasing) by showing that Roman soldiers were relatively expensive, not cheap and expendible.

So working proportions who met the census qualification requiring them to purchase mail shirts or comparable armors?

Complicated problem. Polybius' numbers clearly match what we get for the first class of pedites, but serious issues (Polybian legion set in 216, but census requirements match Livy using sextantal as which only comes around in 211.

There's room for doubt about the 'when' of the Polybian legion. And reconstructing the history of the lower classes of pedites is probably impossible. Did requirements shift? Lower qualifications? As w/ Rich, "Supposed Roman Manpower Shortage (1983)...we don't know.